My Creative Space

I’m always burning my oven mitts and however much I wash them they still look dirty. There’s still lots of wear left in them…so I decide to upcycle mine…give them a new coat (a bit like the one I made for the sofa) but this time not only using random fairisle knitting, I also used my new found love of crochet!

this is linked over to our creative space there's some amazing things going on over there, why not check them out...

Forgot about The Selby and other Blogs I Love to Read

Image via

design sponge makeover

I'm obsessed with reading blogs related to interiors and design at the moment. Especially Design Sponge and the Rummage blog, that also shares great inspiration for interiors and design with the author's linked tumblr blogs. I first discovered Rummage over on Katie's blog that I've been reading for the longest time. I'd forgotten about The Selby until reminded by Vmichelle who writes bohemian season and who directed us to Closet Visit which she described as 'the fashionista's answer to The Selby.' I wouldn't exactly call myself a fashionista! but I can't think of anything more fun than having a sneak peep inside someone else's wardrobe...can you? Especially Simone LeBlanc's, who has a great house and some lovely outfits; and lots of others I've still to look at.

I found this Selby video of a little bit of Mitch Alfus' life. Who I have to say I'd never heard of before, and I'm not that sure about making loads of things out of leather...even though I do wear leather shoes...I'm a bit confused! But he has the most amazing apartment...if more than a little untidy and such a lovely relationship with his little daughter who is gorgeous, and reminds me so much of H when she was the same age that I had to post it!

Nice Blogs.

It's great joining memes because you discover some lovely new (to me) blogs. I found a lovely one by creative young mum Cindy, called Kiss the birdie which you can link to at http://www.kissthebirdie.blogspot.com/

I just love this cushion that she found at Feed the Dog Don't you think it would go perfectly with our snug colour scheme? I do. Which helped me find a great website and Etsy shop at http://www.feedthedog.com/

Another blog that I've been following for ages but never mentioned before is Three Buttons which is where I discovered Ungtblod.

This vignettes of a friends house was taken by Angela from three buttons.........I'd love a grain sack cushion I've wanted one for ages and just love the colours in this one made from a flour bag.
You can check out Three buttons if you like at http://www.threebuttons.blogspot.com/

Yey.....I've finished the cushion covers that I knitted to go with the one I made from a vintage 1940's/50's fabric remnant I picked up at KOA this summer. I also picked up a free John Lewis magazine last week and it seems that I've accidently chosen this seasons new colour palette of "Connections in Chilli, Connections in Sulpher; Fragments in Magenta; Seedheads in Putty; Fragments in Mineral."

Who would have known it.....

Elle Decoration

Just love the quirky style in this month's Elle Decoration - especially that grey bedside lamp.

The Cloth Shop - Portobello Road

It's only the third time that I've been to Portobello Road (last Friday) and I don't think I could visit without at least the tiniest peek inside The Cloth Shop.
This time it was even more fun because I met up with one of my sisters who was in town from Chester on a fabric buying spree. I had an excuse to spend a little longer than usual discovering what amazing delights were on offer.
There's always lots to tempt me. The fabrics are natural and sourced from all over the world. They have beautiful Swedish linen, vintage Hungarian grain sacks, Indian cushions and silks, cashmere and wool, vintage Welsh blankets. All sorts of lovely materials.

The window display always succeeds in drawing me across Portobello Road.
And the door is usually ajar and so I just have to go in. Even though it's usually jam packed with customers and there isn't much space because it's full of roll upon roll of delicious material, but I always manage to squeeze in.
Sam and Alex who have been running the shop for seventeen years are mines of information when it comes to cloth and patiently take time with each customer, however small their purchase.


They have a lovely website on www.theclothshop.net and even do a mail order service.

Oh and we got a sneaky bit of news that French Elle Magazine are doing a spread on them as one of those little hidden gems secreted away......I'll try to track it down

I'm sorry I can't make any of the links work but I am trying ............:0(

Blue Linen Cupboard

In order to avert the risk of becoming like a neighbour who insists on showing each and every one of their hundreds of holiday or new baby photo's to you. Despite the fact that you're not at all interested and they all look the same. I have determined to be a little more selective when it comes to those from last Friday in Portobello Road. So rather than give you an image overload, I'm going to publish a few gems every so often.

I just had to begin with Blue Linen Cupboard. Tucked away in a little corner by Portobello Green, along with all the other lovely stalls, I was drawn to shelves holding bundles of antique quilts, checked blankets, hemp sheets, cotton night-shirt, floral fabric and lace. They are all carefully selected by the proprietor Su Mason. The sight of such a cornucopia of textiles brought-on one of my 'Little House on the Prairie' Moment's, all that beautiful fabric.
But as I looked through the adjacent rails of vintage clothing dating from the 1890's to the 1950's....it became less Laura Ingalls Wilder and more Madam Bovary. The selected clothes ranged from lovely old French linen utility wear dresses and lace trimmed petticoats which come from the trousseaux of early 20th century ladies, to flimsy voile beauties....so delicate that you may be afraid to wear them...but that doesn't matter, you could just hang them on the wall.....
Juxtaposed next to all this feminine loveliness was what looked like the contents of a 1940's haberdashery shop (I do just love that word....like petticoat or bumble bee!)
An amazing assortment of lace and ribbon and cards of buttons.....

accessories......
The last time that I had a similar experience was when I stumbled across Darn It and Stitch on the Oxford Antique Market.
Which instantly gave me a flash-back to the discovery of yet another treasure box, Fleur de Lin, a tiny little shop on the Rue du Petit Fort in Dinan, France, a couple of years ago. It was packed with old wooden display cases and glass fronted drawers full of similar vintage goodies. I was like a child in a sweetshop.
To continue the confectionary analogy, discovering Fleur de Lin was less like stepping into a sweetshop and more like into a scene from Chocolate! Especially as the owner not only had a striking resemblance to Juliette Binoche, she was also wearing a fifties style white cotton dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt.

The helpful proprietor of Blue Linen Cupboard was similarly styled with appropriate French elegence I wasn't at all surprised to discover that not only do all her wares originate in France but there is also a French equivalent run by Jill Dymock in Etrigny, France. You can check out all the details on www.bluelinencupboard.com and discover where you can find Blue Linen next.